Markets for physical game components have grown dramatically since the introduction of the collectible trading card game Magic: The Gathering in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast™, now owned by Hasbro™. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,662,332 and RE37,957, both titled “Trading Card Method of Play” describe the main concepts of the game. Also, witness the success of Wizkids Games™ the producers and sellers of games including HeroClix™ and Pirates of the Spanish Main™. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,899,332 and 6,899,333 both titled “Game piece and method of playing a game and supplying the game piece.” While the above referenced patents and others in the same category contemplate physical game components and playing the associated core games over a computer, they do not contemplate that the physical game components have an in-game value within a virtual game world.
Massively Multi-player On-line Games (MMOG) are also very well known and popular. Examples include World of Warcraft™, owned and operated by Blizzard™ or EverQuest™ owned and operated by Sony On-line Entertainment (SOE). In MMOGs, generally, characters collect virtual objects within the game that have in-game value. The virtual objects have parameters or attributes associated with them in a manner game players find beneficial due to their in-game purchasing power, enhancement abilities, or other capabilities. Frequently, the virtual objects have a rarity value or set value associated with them that increases their collectability; consequently, players play longer and revenue increases. Unfortunately, the virtual objects are retained within the Virtual Game World (VGW) and do not leave the servers. However, the collectability and virtual nature of the game has spawned markets where players sell the virtual objects on eBay™ or even in the VGW through in-game markets or auction houses. Such markets of virtual objects require players to conduct a transaction, and then meet virtually in the game world to exchange the virtual object. This approach to the market for objects having in-game value is subject to fraud. Interestingly, the concepts of physical game components have not yet combined with in-game value to reduce the risk of fraud.
The following references relate to various aspects of game components and VGWs including apparatus representing physical game components, toys, using a computer to facilitate game play, or virtual objects and their transactions:
U.S. Patent Applications Numbers:2005/0287925;2005/0266907;2005/02163462005/0182693;2005/0049022;2004/02296962004/0172280;2004/0145563;2004/00923112004/0084842;2003/0115132;2003/00370752003/0004887;2002/0183119;2002/01558932002/0109295;2002/0107783;2002/00724132002/0022516;2001/0056393U.S. Pat. Nos.:6,949,033;6,910,627;6,745,236;6,612,501;6,591,2506,341,353;6,200,216;6,119,229;6,507,828;6,009,4585,853,327;5,810,666;5,689,561 
U.S. Patent Application 2005/0192864 titled “System and method for toy adoption and marketing” by Howard Ganz describes a toy and methods of playing with the toy in virtual world. The described toy has registration codes allowing a toy to be authenticated with respect to an on-line virtual world where users are able to “adopt” the toy. Once authentication (the adoption) is complete, a virtual version of the toy interacts in the virtual world. Although the Ganz patent teaches the virtual version of the toy is able to earn or to find virtual objects that have an in-game value, the patent does not teach associating the in-game value with a physical object. For example, a virtual version of the toy can earn “virtual cash” stored in the virtual world; however, the “virtual cash” does not have a corresponding physical object in the real world.
Although the above references relate to the inventive subject matter, none of the references teach the concept of physical game objects having an associated in-game value within a VGW.
Thus, there remains a considerable need for methods and apparatus that provide physical objects that have an in-game value within a VGW. In addition, there will be a need for relocating assets associated with the physical objects between asset storage areas.